Korrasami - Cave of Two Lovers AU
by Pandalandalopalis
Summary: Exactly how it sounds. Asami's ship crashes and the Krew find themselves stranded. The closest city to them is Omashu –just through a mountain pass, of course. When Korra and Asami are separated from everyone else, Korra channels her inner Aang as they discover the tomb of the Lovers and Asami asks her a question.


A/N: So this is basically the same as the show, with minor changes. Yes, Mako is basically Sokka in this. This: ( wiki/Transcript:The_Cave_of_Two_Lovers) is what I used to get all the lines from the show.

Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender or Legend of Korra DO NOT belong to me.

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"I'm sorry," Bolin repeated, for the thousandth time. Asami stopped him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Bolin, I told you, it's _okay_. It wasn't your fault the ship crashed," she said, trying to make her friend feel better about what he did. Alright, so it sort of was Bolin's fault that the ship crashed. He wanted so badly to fly the ship. Unfortunately, he was terrible at it.

"Not his fault? _Not his fault?!_ " It was all anyone could do but not groan at the whiny voice of Prince Wu. "This is most _definitely_ his fault! Mako and I go up to the Captain's helm and there's this idiot just pressing every button he can find!"

Mako gritted his teeth. "Your Highness, I'd appreciate it if we could drop the topic now."

Prince Wu sighed dramatically. "I'm tired of all this walking." He stopped and raised his arms, standing in front of Mako. "Carry me."

Korra and Asami couldn't help snickering quietly at Mako's annoyed face as he reluctantly picked up the Prince and began carrying him. They walked for a little while longer before Bolin stopped again and pointed in front of him.

"Look! A river!" he exclaimed, smiling. Mako sucked in a breath, trying to manage saying something and carrying Prince Wu at the same time.

"Yeah, a river. So?"

"So. . ." Bolin began taking off his shirt, "It's hot, and it wouldn't hurt to take a dip."

Mako shook his head. "I don't know. . ."

Meanwhile, Korra had already stripped to her bandages and Asami to her underwear. The Avatar raced toward the water. "Last one in is a rotten platypus-bear egg!" She used her waterbending to drag herself in while Asami dived in head-first where the water got deep enough. They both resurfaced in time to see Bolin catapulting himself with earthbending.

"Cannonball!"

The girls laughed and were mock-angry at Bolin for splashing them. Of course, Korra had to get even by waterbending a wave in his direction, which, if he wasn't wet already, soaked him to the bone. With a wild grin, Bolin picked up some mud from the bottom of the river and bended it back and forth between hands. He shot it Korra's way, but she was quick to deflect it.

"So you want to play it that way, huh?" she asked, beginning to bend a large ball of mud into the air. Bolin began to back away.

"Korra –no, NO!"

Mako gritted his teeth, watching his brother begin smothered with mud and hearing the sound of Korra and Asami's laughter mixed together. "Your Highness, it _is_ really hot out, maybe a dip wouldn't–"

Prince Wu made an appalled noise. "You want _me_ to go in _there_? That water is _filthy_!" Mako groaned and set the Prince down on one of the rocks next to the river. Maybe if he could just go in by himself– "Where are you going?" he asked as Mako tried to take a few steps toward the river. "You have to stay here and protect me!"

The firebender sighed. "From _what_? We're the only ones here! I doubt anyone else will be coming this way."

"Oh, _really_?" Prince Wu retorted, "Then who are _they_?" He gestured over Mako's shoulder, where a woman with a guitar was coming out of the bushes, singing. A few others, about five or so, followed her. They all wore shabby-looking clothes, like they didn't exactly care how they looked, and cared little possessions.

 _"_ _Da, da, da. Don't fall in love with the traveling girl. She'll leave you broke and broken-hearted!_ " the woman sang. She grinned as she spotted Korra, Asami, and Bolin. "Hey, river people!"

Asami raised her eyebrow at the strange woman. "We're not river people."

The woman gave her a puzzled look. "You're not? Well then what kind of people are you?"

Korra waterbending the muck and mud off of herself, then answered. "Just . . . people."

The woman smiled. "Aren't we all, sister."

Mako crossed his arms and walked over to the group of people. "Who are you?" he asked in an accusatory tone.

The woman didn't notice his hostile demeanor, going on to happily answer his question. "I'm Ching and this is my husband, Cedar. We're nomads, happy to go wherever the wind takes us!"

Korra suddenly took on a thoughtful look as she and Asami and Bolin began drying off. "Why does it seem like I've heard this all before?" she murmured.

"What's that?" Asami asked her. The Avatar shook her head.

"Nothing. I'm just getting the weirdest sense of Déjà vu, that's all."

Ching ran up to Korra, grinning widely at her. "I'm getting Déjà vu as well!"

Korra's eyebrows went up. "You feel it, too?"

Ching frowned, like she was confused. "Feel what?"

". . . Déjà vu."

"You're getting Déjà vu? Hey, me too!" she answered excitedly. The Avatar gave her a blank look.

"I know . . . You just said that."

"Oh." Ching thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers like she had just remembered something important. "You're the Avatar, aren't you? Avatar Korra?"

Bolin put an arm around Korra. "Yep! She's the best of the best, the elite, the super-mega-awesome–" She stopped him sheepishly before he could continue, and let Ching speak.

"I know why this all seems so familiar!" she exclaimed. Mako rolled his eyes.

"Please, do go on to tell us some totally-not-made-up story about past lives or something."

Ching nodded. "This _is_ about past lives! The Avatar's past life!"

Korra's eyebrows shot up. "You knew Avatar Aang?"

Ching laughed. "No, not me. Do I look old enough to have known Avatar Aang? No, my grandfather knew him! Said he met him and his friends one day while they were in the river! Said he helped them get to Omashu!"

"Omashu?" Asami asked. "Omashu is near here?" One of the other nomads –Cedar, Ching's husband– answered for her.

"Yeah, not too far from here. But you have to go through the mountain."

"The Cave of Two Lovers," Korra answered in a dazed voice, like she hadn't meant to say it out loud.

Asami's attention went over to her friend. "'The Cave of Two Lovers'? You know what it is, Korra?"

She shook her head. "Must've come from one of Aang's memories or something."

Mako groaned. "I've heard of the place. It's a freakin' tourist trap. Supposedly the Cave of Two Lovers is where Avatar Aang and Katara had their first kiss or some other crap like that."

"They stopped doing tours a while back," one of the other nomads piped up. "They had to once the badger-moles came back. Now the mountain is one with nature again."

"Okay, then. Well, if the mountain is the only way to get to Omashu, we should probably start heading there now," the firebender started, but his brother protested.

"Why don't we stay a while?" Bolin said as one of the nomads braided his hair. "I bet these guys have some great stories to tell!" Before long, everyone –except Mako, of course– were getting their hair braided into intricate patterns. Even Prince Wu, after a little convincing, agreed to let them put a flower crown on his head. Meanwhile, Mako was trying to convince everyone how important it was to get to Omashu and get the airship fixed. Bolin didn't pay much attention to him.

"Hey, Mako, you should hear some of these stories. These guys have been everywhere!" the earthbender exclaimed.

"We need to get to Omashu," his brother said for the thousandth time. "No more distractions!"

Ching shook her head. "Sounds like you've got a case of destination fever. You're worried too much about where you're going."

"You got to focus less on the 'where'," Cedar continued, "and more on the 'going'."

"O. Ma. Shu!"

"We accidently crashed our airship and we need it repaired as soon as possible," Asami elaborated.

"Sounds like you're going to Omashu!" Ching said, and Mako groaned. "You know, I forgot to mention . . . There's an old story about the secret pass through the mountain."

Korra looked sceptical. "Is this real or a legend?"

Ching nodded. "Oh, it's a real legend. And it's old as earthbending itself. Now, how did Grandfather sing it . . ." She began strumming her guitar. " _Two lovers, forbidden from one another, the war divides their people and the mountain divides them apart. Built a path to be together!_ " She stopped playing. "Yeah, I always forget the next couple of lines, but then it goes. . ." she resumed singing, " _Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel! Through the mountains, secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel!_ Yeah!"

Mako sighed. " _Fine_. We'll go through the stupid secret love cave or whatever. Let's go." Bolin jumped up excitedly and hugged his brother before quickly going on his way. The rest of them followed; one of the nomads even offered to carry Prince Wu the way there. Asami walked next to Korra, concern written on her face as she noticed her friend looking distraught.

"Are you alright?"

Korra nodded, albeit a bit hesitantly. "It's just . . . It's like I'm reliving Aang's past right now. I'm not saying it's a _bad_ thing, in fact, so far this small detour has been fun– It just feels weird is all."

"Well, if you're reliving Aang's past, then maybe you'll get to kiss someone in the Cave," Asami replied in a teasing manner, then walked ahead without seeing the Avatar's reaction (which happened to be a very flustered Korra).

They walked for a bit longer before Mako asked, "How far are we from the tunnel?"

"Actually, it's not just one tunnel," Ching answered, "The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth!"

Mako stopped walking. "Labyrinth?"

Ching waved it away like it was nothing. "Oh, I'm sure we'll figure it out. All you need to do is trust in love . . . according to the curse."

" _Curse_?!" Prince Wu squeaked.

"Hey-hey, we're here!" Ching exclaimed as they made it up to a cave entrance.

"What exactly is this 'curse'?" Asami asked.

"The curse says that only those who trust in love can make it through the caves. Otherwise, you'll be trapped in them forever," Ching briefly explained. Her husband piped up to add onto what she said,

"And die."

She nodded. "Oh yeah, and die." Her expression brightened. "Hey, I just remembered the rest of that song!" She stood before the entrance and strummed her guitar, while singing an ominous line in a low voice. " _And die!_ "

Korra contemplated this, her eyes narrowed in concentration. "So all you need is love to get through these caves?"

"Yep!"

Mako groaned. "Korra, _tell me_ you are not buying into this lovey-dovey stuff!" But Korra's attention was somewhere else. Of course she didn't believe in it, she was just making sure she understood what nonsense it all was –But as her gaze somehow made its way over to Asami, she found herself believing every word.

"We can make it."

Bolin went over to Mako and clapped his brother on the back. "Besides! We have earthbending on our side! What could go wrong?"

Apparently, a lot could go wrong. As Korra and Bolin tried to earthbend their way straight through the mountain, another earthbending-force caused the roof above them to cave in. Korra saved Asami before she could get crushed, but in her doing so, she separated them from the rest of the group.

Korra coughed as the dust began to settle around them. She looked down at the form of her friend that was still beneath her. "Asami, you okay?"

"I'm alright, thanks to you."

Korra smiled, before realizing that she was, in fact, _still_ on top of Asami, and that she should probably move before things got awkward. Korra got off of her friend and stood up, holding out a hand to help her get up as well. The Avatar face the collapsed part of the tunnel with determination.

"Nothing a little earthbending can't fix," she figured, and was about to begin when the whole cave began shaking again. Korra slipped off-balance and Asami caught her before she could reach the ground, unfortunately becoming off-balance herself and letting them both fall into the dirt. When the tremors stopped they could finally stand again.

"It seems like something doesn't want us getting out of here that easily," Asami said, and Korra crossed her arms.

"What did that nomad say about badger-moles again?"

The decided to try and find a way out of the labyrinth on their own, Korra using her firebender as a light to illuminate their path. But it was harder to figure out than they thought; they kept going in circles and turning into dead-ends. But after a few hours or so, they finally found an entrance to another room.

"Is it an exit?" Korra asked as Asami went in first. But as Korra's fire lit up the room, they both saw it for what it really was.

"No," Asami replied. "It's a tomb."

"It must be the two lovers from the legend," Korra observed, "That's who's buried here."

Asami gently took Korra's wrist and brought her over to the crypt, moving her hand that was alit closer so she could see better. "These pictures tell their story." She began interpreting the story of the two lovers; the war, their forbidden love, how the badger-moles taught them earthbending, how the man died and the woman almost destroyed everything and everyone, but instead created the city known as Oma – Shu, named after the woman and man. "I know this story," Asami said after a little while. "My dad used to tell me it when I was younger as a bedtime story. It was my favourite. I can't believe I didn't recognize it. . . Wait, there's another inscription." She held Korra's hand higher to a carving of a couple kissing. "Love is brightest . . . in the dark."

The two of the locked eyes for a moment before Korra looked away, walking off to the side a bit. "How are we going to find our way out of these tunnels?" she asked. Asami studied the carving for a few moments before giving a vague answer.

". . . I have a crazy idea."

Korra turned to her curiously. "What?"

Asami waved it away, hesitation and slight embarrassment in her voice. "Never mind. It's too crazy."

Korra's eyes narrowed. "Asami, what is it?" What could she possibly be thinking?

Asami took a deep breath. "I was thinking . . ." She hugged her arms and rubbed warmth into them. "The curse says we'll be trapped here forever unless we trust in love. . ."

Korra nodded, still a bit confused. "Right. . ."

Asami turned to face her, gesturing to the portrait. "And here it says, 'Love is brightest in the dark,' and has a picture of them kissing."

Korra was being completely oblivious, speaking in a tone of voice that was utterly confused and lost. "Where are you going with this?"

Asami bit her lip. When she replied, it was in a shy tone of body language, and a blush crept onto her cheeks. "Well, what if we . . . kissed?"

Korra was taken completely off-guard. She _did not_ expect her to say something like that. So, at first, her voice just sounded very surprised. "Us . . . _kissing_?"

Asami shrugged, her nails digging slightly into her arms. "See? It was a crazy idea."

The thought started to sink into Korra's head, and she replied again, this time in a dreamy tone of voice. "Us . . . _kissing_ . . ." The more she thought about it, the more she started to think that it was an extremely good idea.

Asami answered in a fake-joking voice, like she was trying to cover up what she had just said. "Us kissing. What was I thinking? Can you imagine _that_?"

Korra, snapped out of her reverie, replied in the same fake-joking tone. "Yeah!" She laughed awkwardly, herself trying to cover up the fact that she most definitely wanted to kiss Asami now. "I definitely wouldn't want to kiss _you_!" She realized her mistake almost immediately. Asami was insulted by her choice of words, and even looked a bit hurt.

"Oh, well! I didn't realize it was _such_ a _horrible_ option. Sorry I suggested it!"

Korra tried to backtrack her words. "No, no, I mean . . . if there was a choice between kissing you and _dying_ . . ."

Asami's eyes widened, and she angrily through down her arms and balled her hands into fists. "Ugh!"

Korra was now desperately trying to pull herself out of the hole she had dug so deeply. "What? I'm saying I'd rather kiss you than die – that's a compliment!"

"Well, I'm not sure _which_ I'd rather do!" Asami growled, enraged as she walked away from Korra. The Avatar slid down against the wall, sighing.

"What is _wrong_ with me. . ." she asked herself quietly. She leaned her head against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. "Aang, you were in this situation before, you have to help me. If you're going to speak up, now would be a good time. . . No better time than this. . ." Knowing he wasn't going to answer, Korra shook her head and finally buried her face into the arm that didn't have the fire on the other end.

After a little while, Asami came back and they continued to wander around through the tunnels, still trying to find a way out and still failing. Eventually Korra's flame started to flicker and seemed smaller after each passing minute.

"I can't keep this fire going for much longer," she protested, "Not without something to eat. We're probably going to run out of light any second now." Korra sighed as the fire grew dimmer. "What are we going to do?"

Asami's voice was quiet when she answered. "What _can_ we do?" She silently walked over to Korra and wrapped her hand under the bottom of the hand that Korra was using to keep a fire lit. Her other hand found Korra's other hand, and as the fire grew smaller and the darkness grew bigger, their faces slowly inched forward to each other. When darkness finally engulfed them, their lips met for what seemed like an eternity.

Korra didn't expect Asami's lips to be so soft, and she could taste the flavouring of her lip balm but for the life of her could not tell you what flavour it was. She was too busy paying attention to the hand cupping her face, or her own hand going the small of Asami's back to pull her closer. But as soon as the moment came, it was gone. The tunnel suddenly lit up with thousands of small crystals lining the ceiling. They two were still wrapped around each other as they looked up.

"They're made of some kind of crystal," Korra commented, "They must only light up in the dark."

Asami nodded, realization passing over her face. "That's how the two lovers found each other. They just put out their lights and followed the crystals." Her eyes followed the crystals down the tunnel, where light shone at the end. "That must be the way out!" They both hugged, overjoyed to have finally found a way out.

Korra cleared her throat. "So, uh . . ."

But Asami paid no attention, pulling herself away from Korra. "Let's go!" She ran toward the exit. Korra stared after her, before shaking her head and smiling. Then she followed her until they made their way out of the cave and into the outdoors. They were both about to ask where the others were, worried they'd have to go back in and look for them, when an explosion of rocks made a hole in the wall of the mountain near the exit they came through. A large badger-mole walked out of it, with Bolin as its passenger. He looked happier than a turtle-duck being fed bread in a turtle-duck pond. The other were not far behind, on their own badger-moles.

Mako slid off of one of the badger-moles with Prince Wu in tow, who looked like he was going to be sick. "How did you guys get out?" he asked.

Korra shrugged. "It was just like the legend said–"

"–we let love lead the way," Asami finished for her. Mako looked like he was about to ask some questions about that before Bolin piped up.

"Really?" he replied. "We let huge, ferocious beasts lead our way."

Asami laughed, and Korra couldn't help just listening to the sound of her voice and loving the way it sounded.


End file.
